ALMOST £900,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on the study proving Boris Johnson’s plan for a 30-mile link from Scotland to Northern Ireland was an unaffordable fantasy.

The UK Department for Transport revealed research commissioned by the Prime Minister into the feasibility of a bridge or tunnel cost £896,681.

Opposition parties said the waste of money on the "doomed" scheme was further proof of Mr Johnson being unfit for office.

Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy led the study, which found that a bridge would cost £335 billion, while a tunnel would require a budget of around £209 billion.

His report concluded the project “would be impossible to justify” as “the benefits could not possibly outweigh the costs”.

In addition to the huge expense, the inquiry also noted that the necessary work would be incredibly challenging.

The report warned Beaufort’s Dyke – a deep sea trench on the most direct route between Scotland and Northern Ireland – would need to be “carefully surveyed” as 1m tons of unexploded munitions were dumped there between the First World War and the 1970s.

Mr Johnson had previously talked up a fixed link but accepted the conclusions.

The research was carried out alongside a wider review of connectivity in the UK, which cost £1,102,525.

The DfT said the total of £1,999,206 for both studies was the amount spent on consultancy fees and department staff costs. 

SNP MP Mhairi Black MP said: “We knew from the beginning this wouldn’t happen, and now it has been revealed that the UK government wasted close to £1 million of taxpayers' money on a feasibility study on its unworkable, doomed from the get-go idea.

“This just goes to show the Tories’ warped spending priorities. How many Lateral flow tests could this have bought, or nurses salaries paid, or PPE purchased for those on the frontline in this pandemic?

“However, as daft as this idea was, it still promised to put £20 billion of investment into the Scottish and Northern Irish economies.

"The Prime Minister must honour the spending commitments he made and deliver that money to Scotland and Northern Ireland so they can use it for worthwhile infrastructure proposals.

“The UK government said it was ‘deadly serious’ about these proposals – it's time to come good on its words and deliver the investment."

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie added: “This is a gobsmacking sum to have spent on a PR stunt. It sounds like something that the Prime Minister came up with at 2am at a Downing Street party.

“This is money that could have been spent on health, education and support for businesses.

“This bridge stunt is yet another example of Boris Johnson having fun at the expense of the taxpayer. He's totally unfit to be Prime Minister and should step aside."